King Abdullah's remarks, coupled with the Arab League's decision to suspend Damascus, mark a turning point in the Arab world's approach to Syria.

But Jordan's monarch was emphatic that President Assad stepping down was not enough. His call to the Syrian leader was about changing a "system". He admitted that no-one was clear how to do that, and the Syrian regime still believed it was "in a fairly comfortable position".

King Abdullah, like many others, also emphasised there was great concern about "life after Bashar". He warned that any outside intervention in Syria would open "Pandora's box".

The relationship between two Arab leaders, seen as a new generation when they took over from their fathers, has been under growing strain. But King Abdullah said he still believed the Syrian leader had "reform in his blood". He had reached out to him earlier this year, even if, as he admitted, Jordan was not "by any means... a perfect story".

Jordan King Say’s Assad Must Step Down:

HM KING ABDULLAH has become the first Arab leader to demand that President Bashar al-Assad of Syria should step down. UN sources say more than 3,500 citizens have died since the crackdown on protests began in March 2011

Speaking to an international newsagency, Jordan's King Abdullah has called for Bashar al-Assad, the president ofSyria, to step down in the interest ofthe Syrian people. Jordan has beencritical of its northern neighbour Syria's crackdown on anti-governmentprotesters in recent months. The latest statements will have profound effectsfor Jordan-Syria relations. Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh reports fromAmman.

*****************************************

*****************************************

ROYAL DYNASTY VS PRESIDENTIAL DYNASTY

*****************************************

******************************************

Jordan 1980:

Archive Footage on Jordan andits relationship in the Middle East. Ofcourse, King Hussein is featured in it. There is talks with Isreal, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt, Colonel al-Gaddafi, United States, and the USSR

Syria 1980:

Archive Footage of President Hafez al-Assad talking with Middle Eastern Leaders and Soviet Union President Leonid Brezhnev. Some of the Middle Eastern Leaders include Yasser Arafat and the Saudi Arabian royal family. There are also training clips of the Syrian Military.

***********************************

***********************************

Jordan King: “Assad Must Step Down”

***********************************

***********************************

Jordan's king has become the first Arab leader to openly say Syrian President Bashar al-Assad should stand down.

King Abdullah told the BBC that if he were in Mr Assad's position, he would make sure "whoever comes behind me has the ability to change the status quo".

He urged President Assad to begin talks on an orderly transition of power.

Many Arab leaders have condemned the crackdown on months of protests in Syria. Dozens of deaths are reported in the latest unrest on Monday.

Both the Saudi and Qatari ambassadors left Damascus in protest at the repression. The Arab League voted on Saturday to suspend Syria's membership.

However King Abdullah went further than other Arab leaders in his exclusive interview withBBC World News television.

"If Bashar has the interest of his country [at heart] he would step down, but he would also create an ability to reach out and start a new phase of Syrian political life," he said.

"That's the only way I would see it work and I don't think people are asking that question," he added.

King Abdullah warned there would be "more of the same" if whoever replaced President Assad did not change the status quo.

Defiance

Jordan, which borders Syria, has been increasingly critical of the crackdown on anti-government protesters. Many Western powers have urged President Assad to stand down.

Both the EU and the US have said he has lost legitimacy but have ruled out military intervention.The European Union on Monday tightened sanctions on Syria.

EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels added 18 Syrian officials to a list of people affected by a travel ban and asset freeze.

The ministers also approved moves to prevent Syria getting funds from the European Investment Bank. French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said he hoped the UN would finally impose its own sanctions on Syria. Russia and China last month vetoed a Western-sponsored resolution condemning Damascus.

Earlier on Monday, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Muallem reacted defiantlyto the Arab League's suspension. He said the decision was illegal and vowed to overcome "conspiracies" against Damascus.

The Arab League is set to hold another meeting to discuss Syria on Wednesday. Russia on Monday condemned the suspension. "Someone really does not want the Syrians to agree among themselves," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in Moscow. In the latest violence, the Local Co-ordination Committees - a network of opponents to President Assad's rule - said 40 people had been killed on Monday, including 20 in the restive southern province of Deraa.

There are also reports that about 20 members of the security forces were killed in a clash with defectors from the Syrian army. Such claims are impossible to verify as the Syrian government has severely restricted access for foreign journalists.

The UN says more than 3,500 people have died since the start of the protests in March while the Syrian authorities blame the violence on terrorists.

Vladimir Putin arrives in Jordan for talks with king

Dead Sea, Jordan: Russian President Vladimir Putin will hold talks on Tuesday with Jordan's King Abdullah II as part of a Middle East tour aimed at boosting Moscow regional role.

Mr Putin, who arrived in Jordan from the occupied West bank, will meet with the king on the shores of Dead Sea in the Jordan Valley, officials said.

During his one-day visit, Mr Putin is also set to open a guesthouse for Christian pilgrims in Jordan.

Talks between Mr Putin and the king are expected to focus on Middle East peace efforts as well as the unrest in Syria.

In the West Bank, Mr Putin met with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas during a stop in Bethlehem on a brief trip, a day after a stop in Israel where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.

The Jordan Royal House said in a statement that the talks between the two leaders will focus on recent developments and political changes that have taken place in the Middle East, and in the peace process between Palestinians and Israel. The meeting will also take stock of the so-called Arab Spring, including the bloody conflict that has afflicted Syria since March 2011.

Russia, along with China, is one of the leading proponents of the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, and hindered the adoption of any resolutions against Assad’s regime in the UN Security Council, where the two countries hold veto power.

Putin is also scheduled to attend the official ceremony of inauguration of the Russian Pilgrimage House located on Maghtas, on the east bank of the River Jordan, where Jesus Christ was baptized according to Jordan. The 40-room guest house was built on a 10-dunum plot of land donated by His Majesty King Abdullah and financed by the Russian government, which will be managed by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Fleeing to Jordan

There is mounting pressure on the Syrian government to suspend its attacks and allow humanitarian aid to enter the besieged towns of Homs, Deraa and Idlib. As government forces continue their bombardment of opposition held towns, thousands of Syrians have fled the fighting into neighbouring countries, including Jordan, from where Wyre Davies reports.

Syrian Refugees Seek safety in Jordan

There is mounting pressure on the Syrian government to suspend its attacks and allow humanitarian aid to enter the besieged towns of Homs, Deraa and Idlib. As government forces continue their bombardment of opposition held towns, thousands of Syrians have fled the fighting into neighbouring countries, including Jordan, from where Wyre Davies reports.

Jordan's Prince Hassan urges Syrian talks

Prince El Hassan of Jordan has told the BBC there is a danger of Syria "subdividing" along its various ethnic and religious lines, with each group "afraid for their own future".

Speaking to George Alagiah, he called for "heavyweight diplomacy" to draw attention to the opposition within Syria, and said "a conversation has to be held" between the Syrian authorities and all opposition groups.

Banning iPhones! Droids are allowed? Syria loosing it!

This seems to be a desparate act of a regime on the verge of collapse! Like when Shah said he "has heard your revolutionary sound" yet Assad is saying I heard you but Yuck Fou all!

He wants to be like his daddy killing 20,000 but he is having trouble killing with a mere 4,000 without the world knowing about it so he wants to ban "iPhones" so he can break his daddy's record! What an arsehole! His days are numbered.

Syrian Opposition: Syria Would Cut Iran Ties if Assad Toppled

A Syrian government run by the country's main opposition group would cut Damascus's military relationship to Iran and end arms supplies to Middle East militant groups such as Hezbollah and Hamas, said Burhan Ghalioun, the president of the Syrian National Council.

More Than 250 Children Among Syria's Dead, U.N. Says

UNITED NATIONS—More than 250 children have been killed as Syria's regime battled the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, a U.N. commission said in a report that details arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violence and violation of children's rights by Syrian authorities.

"Children were also tortured, some to death," said the U.N. Human Rights Council's report, released Monday in Geneva. As of Nov. 9, it said, "256 children had been killed by state forces."

The report, ordered in September, represents the U.N.'s most detailed examination to date of alleged human-rights violations in Syria since March. It is based on interviews with 223 people, whom it identifies as escaped victims of abuse as well as witnesses, including army and police defectors who have fled Syria.

"One military defector stated that he decided to defect after witnessing the shooting of a 2-year-old girl in Al Ladhiqiyah on 13 August by an officer who affirmed that he did not want her to grow into a demonstrator," the report says.

"The details are appalling," said Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the U.N. "Among the commission's findings are evidence of systemic government support for the rape and torture of children. The world can now clearly see what boundaries the Assad regime is willing to cross to retain its grip on power."

Russia

Dear Darius do you believe Russia is in any position to "save" Assad. I know they got their veto power. But West does not need UN approval to act. Is it good if Assad is gone. This is my analysis:

The good part: IRI will lose a powerful backer and gets a psychological hit. Iranian people will know it is possible to overthrow a dictatorial regime. We already got a few examples but this one is more near to the Islamic Regime.

The bad part: There may be a lot of killings; civil war and chaos. All the problems Rea and others have mentioned. Plus there may be an Islamic Regime that will befriend IRI just like Iraq. That will in reality help IRI!

France's FM Juppé say's: "Syrian government days 'numbered'

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe has said time is running out for the Syrian leader after the Arab League agreed sanctions against Damascus over its crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

The league approved unprecedented sanctions on Sunday, including an asset freeze and an embargo on investments.

The Syrian foreign minister is due to hold a news conference later.

The UN says at least 3,500 people have died in the crackdown on protests which have been going since March.

The government of President Bashar al-Assad blames the violence on armed gangs and militants.

Mr Juppe told French radio the days of the Syrian government were "numbered" as it was "totally isolated".

"Things are going slowly unfortunately... but they are advancing since the Arab League, which carries considerable political weight, has just decided on some sanctions which will isolate the Syrian regime a bit more," Mr Juppe said.

Tuesday's vote in the human rights committee of the General Assembly would carry moral but not legal weight.

Meanwhile, Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan called on Syria's president to step down to avoid further bloodshed.

The call came as Syrian activists said four children were killed on Tuesday by shots fired from a military checkpoint.

In the latest violence, the Local Coordination Committees, an activist network, said four children, between the ages of 10 and 15, were killed by gunshots fired at random from a military checkpoint near the town of Houla, in the restive Homs province. The British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported two teenagers and one child shot dead in the same incident.